Santa Monica College (SMC) will join more than 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide to participate in the “Focus the Nation Teach-In” on global warming solutions Thursday, January 31st.

The college will participate at a free event scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the SMC Amphitheater, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica.

The national teach-in event is being billed as the largest in U.S. history, according to a Santa Monica College spokesman.

The event will consist of a series of consecutive ten-minute presentations featuring various solutions to global warming by educators, students, nonprofit organization representatives and politicians.

“We’re proud to be a part of this historic event, which fits perfectly into SMC’s exploding green campaign,” said Radina Valova, SMC teach-in planning committee chair, who works for the nonprofit Sustainable Works, which is located at the SMC Center for Environmental and Urban Studies.

“A teach-in is a day when the entire college turns its attention to a single problem — when faculty, students and staff put aside business as usual and focus the campus on solving that problem, in this case climate change,” added Amber Katherine, co-chair of the Academic Senate Environmental Affairs Committee and faculty leader for Focus the Nation.

“Today we have an opportunity to act on behalf of our global community and future generations to stabilize global warming pollution and invest in clean energy solutions,” Katherine said. “We owe our students at least one day of focused discussion about global warming solutions for America.”

The event will also include a feature in which more than 200 kindergarten and first-grade students will attend the teach-in to learn about the topic through a Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax.

“In Dr. Seuss’s book, a seed is the last symbol of hope, handing responsibility off to the children, to grow the next generation,” said SMC Associated Students vice president Melody Overstreet, who is also a Focus the Nation planner. “If we can communicate what that seed is in tangible terms, we will give the children attending something really special to take home with them.”

The SMC teach-in is sponsored by the SMC Associated Students, SMC Academic Senate, SMC Eco-Action Club and Sustainable Works.